Waist Training And Weight Loss

Waist training and the decision to focus on a diet or weight loss program can often go hand in hand, but there are a few questions that are probably going through your mind. If you choose to start training with a bespoke corset, you are investing in an item made with painstaking care to measurements that might not be representative of your size a little way down the line. So lets look at the next stages carefully together. There are ways around most problems in life, so here are some points you might want to consider as you look at your options.

The pro’s and con’s of waist training during weight loss

Many people choose to make a corset part of their diet because of the encouragement it offers to see your smoothly cinched waist in the mirror, and your sleek lines under clothing. Even things like watching the gap at the back of your corset slowly closing as time goes by can make your achievements more noticeable. It’s a boost to see the new figure that a corset unveils for you, and certain elements of the corset’s best use can be used in conjunction with healthy eating and moderate exercise to support you in your goals.

Comfortable use of the corset for long periods of time usually involves adjusting your diet to involve smaller, more regular meals without altering from a healthy calorie count. You can read more about this in the waist training section of this post. Some corset wearers also find that a snugly laced corset helps them to regulate their appetite at times, though I would never advise that you treat a corset as a substitute for food, or rely on it to reduce your calorie intake further than your doctor or dietician states.

The cons? Mostly, the in-depth process that we go through in order to provide you with a glove fitting garment. Though provisions can be made to accommodate gradual reductions, dramatic weight loss will inevitably leave you with a corset that won’t fit you forever. This is expensive, and in the case of very fast changes in your size, the length of time taken to create your corset may mean that you have already changed shape and size once it arrives with you. This is something we try to avoid at all costs.

Solutions

A typical waist training corset would probably have a built-in gap of about 2″. This means that all over the corset, it is 2″ smaller than your stated measurements, and this gap leaves room for your weight to fluctuate over time. All sorts of things can affect your size, menstruation and dehydration being the most common, and having a gap allows you to tighten the corset further when needed. If you have decided that you are going to make a corset a part of your diet then we can increase this gap to 3″ or in cases of more dramatic weight loss, 4″. This is the equivalent of around 2 dress sizes, so you can see that there is scope for you to train with the corset for quite some time. Ideally, we would leave as small a gap as possible, because the breadth of the gap can distort where the side seam of your corset is designed to lie, and can also feel a little uncomfortable in those initial stages, but as a temporary measure, it works!

If your weight loss goals wouldn’t be properly served by the 3-4″ gap you might like to look at either investing in a more budget friendly piece, like a ribbon corset, or perhaps looking into a well made “off the rack” or ready-made corset. I wouldn’t often recommend waist training with a ready-made piece as small discrepancies in fit can feel quite drastic by the end of a long day in the corset, and quality construction becomes even more vital when you are wearing your corset for 100+ hours per week. But this said, when you are seeing regular change in your shape and size, this is a more affordable way to meet your needs.

When is the right time in my weight loss program to start waist training?

This is likely to depend on a few factors – how much weight are you planning to lose? over what timescale? Do you feel that waist training is something that you want to play a big part in your plan?

Something to think about- many diets have the most noticeable effects in the early stages. If this is the point at which you’re providing measurements for a custom order, then by the time your corset has been made and shipped to you, you could be a different shape entirely. Equally, we do not always lose weight evenly through our bodies! many women find that the bust or hips is the first place to show a result, so even if your corset order is due to be placed a few months into your diet, it’s a good idea to take regular measurements, noting where the loss is most noticeable, and if the rate at which your measurements change slows down.

Another thing to consider is the length of time your corset order will take to arrive with you. We operate on a waiting list system, so if your order was placed on the first of January, we might be ready to ship mid to late February. There could also be international shipping times to consider as well, so planning your corset at a middle or late stage in your diet could be advisable.

For most cases where a client is budgeting for one corset to take them through their period of weight loss we will recommend that you hold on until the 3-4″ gap will meet your needs, leaving the initial month as a time of recording your results to show us any trends in your new shape and to allow the initial period of high activity to pass. Throughout that month we can still discuss your order, talking about your preferred fabrics and styles. You may also want a boned mock-up to give you a physical impression of the changes you’re expecting to see in your figure.

BridalCorsets

We speak to a lot of brides, and the most frequent thing to be brought up in their first email is that they’re losing weight for the wedding. Sometimes this is a modest “toning up” exercise, and sometimes this is the catalyst for a long-term goal. Whatever you’re planning, the main thing to focus on is your deadline, and who else is relying on your corset being finished to complete their work for you. The most typical example is that your dressmaker will need the corset completed so that they can begin their fittings for your dress- for a ready-made dress the alterations usually need to start a minimum of 1 month before the big day, for a custom-made dress, this could be considerably longer. Your dress makers needs will dictate (to an extent) our best step going forward, maybe such changes as whether we opt for an overbust or underbust, and the point at which we will need to look at your current and predicted sizes.

Hopefully this post will help you to understand some of the practicalities to be thought through for this process- If it sounds scary, don’t worry! We are always on hand and happy to talk to you about your options. Why not drop us a line to discuss your plans?